


Leverage, Season 3, Episode 15, The Big Bang Job

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: Leverage
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s03e15 The Big Bang Job, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 03, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24614164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and the rest of the series. Complete.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	Leverage, Season 3, Episode 15, The Big Bang Job

This is the episode where Moreau finally appears.

Open to Nate meeting the Italian in an underground car park.

On a different note, I have decided she’s most likely working with Sterling, and if I ever write out a Sterling meta, this will be included.

Giving him a file with the announcement Moreau is coming, there’s a stupid editing trick where, when he looks up from the file, she has completely vanished without a sound.

Speaking of Sterling, I liked a similar editing trick involving him in The Three Strikes Job, but there are some key differences. He was shown right next to a door, and I can believe he quietly came through the door in the few seconds FLA’s attention was not focused on it. This is a fair sized car park, they’re somewhere in the middle part of it, and the Italian might have been wearing heels. Even if she wasn’t, though, unless she dropped to the ground or pulled a Parker and ended up on the ceiling, she wouldn’t have gotten far enough away in any direction this fast that Nate wouldn’t be able to visually see her.

I guess, it’s technically possible she quietly opened a nearby car door, slipped in, quietly closed it, and ducked out of sight within, but I’m sticking with this is a stupid editing trick for a non-fantastical show to pull.

Meanwhile, the masked poly trio remove a terrified woman from a building shortly before it blows up.

Question: Did they intend to steal something and realise there was a bomb? Or was the plan to always remove her from the building?

If the latter, why would they do it like this? They have numerous badges. Hardison could have made a phone call and got her out just by saying the right thing. Sophie could’ve walked in and had the woman walking out with her in mere minutes. She’s not a mark, and so, having what could literally be classified as kidnapping as Plan A makes no sense.

At the otherwise empty bar, she and Sophie are sitting, and coming out, Nate does nicely give this woman some food. Then, they explain, for right now, everyone thinks the woman is dead, and this needs to continue for a bit. Her boss is working for Moreau, and they need to know what she’s working on.

Insisting they’ll laugh, she says it’s a battery.

Even before it’s revealed what exactly this battery can power, it’s fairly common knowledge batteries can power some pretty powerful stuff. For a scientist/engineer she’s more dismissive of the capabilities of her work than non-scientist, non-engineer me who sometimes can’t even properly get batteries into a remote.

To be fair to myself, I think some remotes just hate me.

Over to her boss, he’s snappy about his other employees getting a project finished asap despite the fact 1. They thought they’d take a day off out of respect for their dead colleague, and 2. Without her component-

Unacceptable, the boss makes clear. They’ll finish things now or regret it.

Next, the boss calls Moreau, and for some reason, until I reviewed this scene, I would have sworn Moreau’s side of the conversation wasn’t seen or heard. I thought his first on-screen appearance was him stepping out of the sauna.

Onto Moreau, though, he’s played by Goran Visnjic. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched ER, but I remember his accent being different there. It makes sense it’d largely fade after all this time or that he’d have/develop the ability to perform with a different accent than his normal/original one, but it’s surprising to hear him talking with this one as opposed to the one I remember.

I’m actually not sure what this accent would be classified as, but whether it’s his now or just a performance, I don’t have any problems with it.

Accent aside, when it comes the character of Moreau, Visnjic does wonderfully with the role. I wish he’d shown up as Moreau earlier in the show or that he’d showed up in later seasons.

Here, Moreau is getting out of a plane with many women, but he’s more focused on explaining why he was right to have another woman killed than paying any attention to these living ones.

I don’t have a clear opinion on what Moreau’s sexuality is, but I firmly believe he and Eliot once had a sexual and romantic relationship.

Back at the bar, I’m more on Parker’s side than Hardison and the client. Client says it doesn’t blow anything up, it’s just a power source.

Okay, but power sources can be used to blow things up. They might not be designed with this in mind, but get a strong enough power source, and a person can definitely find a way to use it to blow something up.

Coming in, Nate sends the woman off to Bonanno. Then, Sophie comes in, and her contacts in Europe have told her Moreau’s having an auction soon. Eliot joins them, and he knows where Moreau’s staying.

“I make it a priority to know where Moreau is at all times.”

This is a sad line to me.

Before, he was a competent employee, then, he was going to do absolutely anything to make sure he kept the man he loved safe, and this turned into he’s been living his life for years making sure he’d know if Moreau decided to come after him. Now, the people he loves and would die for are within Moreau’s radar, and he’ll do anything to protect them from Moreau.

Even after the next episode, I doubt Eliot will ever go a day without thinking about Moreau until either Moreau or he himself dies.

Hardison asks if Eliot’s okay.

Ignoring the question, Eliot gets the conversation on the con started.

Onto the con, Sophie is a congresswoman with opinions, and the boss has to deal with her wanting a tour of the facility. Nate is more-or-less her handler, though, he tricks the boss into thinking he and said boss have met in the past, and Parker is a PA.

At the hotel, Hardison has a plan to gain access to Moreau, and coming across some men, there’s a moment where Eliot has to make a decision.

“I’m Eliot Spencer.”

Hodge does great here. Hardison’s smile stays in place, but other parts of his expression shift to, _what the frell?!_

Less great is: They get into an elevator with one of the goons, and he asks, in his normal accent, “Why did you tell them your real name?”

And then, he continually keeps asking this just in case the goon didn’t manage to hear it the first or third time.

Meanwhile, the boss is showing Sophie around much to his displeasure.

Over to Eliot and Hardison, they’re in a pool room with thugs and swimsuit-clad women. Eliot and one of the thugs clearly know and dislike one another. Eliot isn’t happy this thug has Eliot’s old job, and this thug wishes Eliot’s leaving had been done via Eliot in a body bag.

Coming out of the sauna, Moreau says, “That’s no way to treat an old friend.”

“Damien,” Eliot greets, and I get the feeling this was a case of him inwardly going _don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say- crap, I said it_.

Back to Nate and Parker, having been left alone by the boss and Sophie, they’re doing computer stuff.

Eliot helped come up with this plan. To me, it’d make more sense if Hardison was here. I’m guessing Eliot knew the others wouldn’t let him go alone, and so, he had to pick between Hardison and Parker.

There are several different reasons he might have picked Hardison, but I wonder which the show’s going for.

At the pool, Hardison is handcuffed to a chair, and this being fictional, Eliot deserves to be smacked for his snide retort of how he isn’t. Though, Hardison isn’t doing much better seeing as how he’s speaking with his fake accent again despite using his normal one in elevator.

Moreau is suspicious. “You work alone.”

“Things change,” is Eliot’s quiet response.

Sitting down, Moreau asks Hardison not to take the whole chaining him to a chair thing personally. Then, when a woman offers Eliot a champagne/wine, Moreau declares Eliot prefers beer.

Fine, but there were two glasses on the tray, and it’s rather rude that Hardison isn’t offered one simply due to Eliot not wanting one.

Moreau thinks this might be one of Eliot’s retrieval jobs. “Tell me, whose Snoopy lunchbox do I have?”

Eliot says this isn’t retrieval. He’s escorting middle-man Hardison, and he’s contracted to make sure Hardison gets both in and out.

“ _We_ could talk,” Moreau says.

“I ain’t much on talking, Moreau.”

In response, Hardison goes into the pool, and there’s a sign: _No Lifeguard On Duty - Swim At Your Own Risk_ behind Moreau. Heh.

Moreau makes it clear he doesn’t work with strangers, and this is why Eliot’s here.

However, Eliot’s vouching is a little vague.

“I never told anybody about you.”

I believe Eliot never told anyone about working for Moreau, but I also believe this was him saying he never told anyone about the romantic relationship they had.

He continues that he guaranteed these people the same confidentially but that he can assure Moreau it’s a safe thing for Moreau to get involved with.

“What else you got,” Moreau asks.

The audience doesn’t hear Eliot’s answer. The camera goes down to Hardison, and then, a few seconds later, the keys fall down.

Coming out, Hardison is incredibly calm, and amused, Moreau agrees they can maybe do business.

They leave, and the Italian is shown among the women.

In a park with benches, Team Leverage meets, and I’m glad they’ve finally stopped dramatically standing around in a circle in the parking lots and streets.

Hardison reveals Eliot used to work for Moreau, and Eliot emotionally insists he’s been trying his best to protect Team Leverage.

Nate is the angriest, but it’s more at the fact Eliot is going by ‘do what I do’ rather than ‘do what I say’. He’s not hypocritical enough to condemn Eliot too deeply for keeping secrets in the interest of protecting the others.

Parker asks what Eliot did for Moreau, the worst thing ever, and I’ve never liked Eliot’s response, but I think it’s down to the line reading or Kane’s acting here.

Because, his response is true to his characterisation. Eliot is the type who believes in giving almost everything, including himself, to the people he loves. He rarely lies to anyone important; doing so would be keeping himself from them, and in addition, he believes they deserve to know exactly who they have in their life.

He didn’t pursue anything serious with his ex-fiancée, because, it would hurt her too much to know who he had become.

Team Leverage knows he’s killed. They know he’s not above using violence to get information.

They know _him_. What they don’t know are all the explicit gory details, and he doesn’t want them to. He’s scared, and he’s ashamed, but if they insist on knowing, he’ll tell them. He’ll share, he’ll give, almost anything to those he loves, and Moreau may or may not have been abusive, but his love for Moreau played a part into him turning into a person he doesn’t like and can never forgive.

Everyone cools down, and he reveals he needs to kill the boss for Moreau. Hardison discovers what Moreau is selling is an electric bomb.

Team Leverage sets out to fake the boss’ death.

Eliot meets up with the thug of mutual dislike, and the thug lays out the plan.

Well, Eliot’s changing it. He unloads/disarms the gun. “You might be used to him holding your hand, but he’s never had a problem with the way I work.”

The thug hits back: He wanted to have the boss’ wife and prepubescent daughter killed, too, but for some reason, say the person sitting in the passenger seat, Moreau’s being all soft on this assignment.

There’s no indication this thug is sexually/romantically involved with Moreau, but there is strong, bitter resentment toward Eliot. This thug is ruthless and willing, but he only got this high position after Eliot left. And after Eliot left, Moreau likely didn’t make it a secret he missed Eliot. If Eliot decides to get his old job back, the thug is either going to have to accept it or risk Moreau killing him when he kills Eliot (never mind Eliot would likely be the one killing him).

He calls Eliot soft, and I’m not sure what it is: He hates that Eliot makes Moreau soft, he hates Moreau favouring a soft, unwilling person over tough, willing him, or a combination.

Getting out, Eliot ‘snaps’ the boss’ neck before getting back in the car and warning, if the thug goes over the speed limit, Eliot will kill him.

At the morgue, the boss is released from a body bag, and Sophie arrives to play the part of Mrs Boss identifying her husband.

Next, Nate informs Sophie they’re going to get Moreau down for treason.

Is Moreau an American citizen? If not, they could get him for terrorism, but it’s literally not treason for a person to attack a country that the person doesn’t hold citizenship to. It’s often terroristic, but it’s not treasonous.

Over to Moreau, the thug comes in to tell him the boss is definitely dead, and Moreau calls Eliot to say Eliot’s clients can be part of the auction.

Sophie, Parker, and Hardison work on stealing from the place the boss worked at.

Meanwhile, Nate and Eliot find the Italian tied up unconscious.

Sophie’s wildly driving Hardison and Parker in chase of the bomb, and for all I disagree with laws making seatbelt wearing compulsory, please, one of you, get Parker to wear hers.

In the warehouse, the Italian claims she’s been undercover for some unnamed agency.

I’m not sure I buy this, but it’s worth pointing out Interpol could be this agency.

Moreau calls her, and Eliot answers. Moreau has sent armed thugs, and Eliot promises, “I’ll see you soon.”

“By the way, uh, the white hat really doesn’t suit you, but I love the hair.”

Elsewhere, Parker and Hardison drop on top of a moving train.

In the warehouse, there’s a scene of Eliot killing all the men who’ve been sent to kill them.

According to IMDb, Eliot killed that man after Eliot’s phone rang in the middle of the fight, but there’s enough wiggle room for me to say this isn’t canon. Unless there’s a line or flashback explicitly making it clear he did, it’s Schrödinger, and I wish I had a better term here due to how stupid I find the thought experiment of Schrödinger’s cat.

The man went down and was never shown getting back up, but so have other victims of Eliot. Therefore, in my mind, Eliot didn’t kill him, and this is the first time he’s directly killed anyone on-screen.

I just wish it was a better scene. Kane can do good action scenes, but this one just doesn’t impress me. Especially since there’s a fire during it, and it’s a pet peeve of mine how characters just treat being a fiery room as no big deal.

For all I don’t like the action part, I do like the acting before it starts. Eliot asks if the Italian is sure she can stop Moreau, and it doesn’t matter if he believes her or not. He’s not going to put Nate in the position of him (Eliot) doing this for Nate’s sake. It has to be about job.

She says she’s certain, and grimly, Eliot picks up the gun of downed thug.

“Eliot-” Nate says.

“Get her out of here.” Get yourself out of here. Focus on the mission. That’s what I’m about to risk my life and further stain my soul for.

Some part of Nate knows the lie Eliot is insisting on here, but the table is fully flipped. Eliot had to let Nate sacrifice Nate in order to protect the others, and now, Nate has to let Eliot risk all this in order to make sure one of them has the chance at continuing to protect the others. Nate can do it with his brains out there, but in here, only Eliot has any chance with the gun.

On the train, having taken out the goons, Hardison and Parker get to the bomb, and Hardison disarms it by exploding it, and I hope the conductor and any non-goons on the train weren’t killed by this.

It’s shown Sophie’s been driving her car right beside the train, and before the two get in, Parker declares she’s in the mood for pretzels, meaning either sex or romance or both with Hardison.

At an airfield hanger, Nate and the Italian appear, and Nate lays out how they screwed Moreau completely over, and yes, I’m going to nitpick Nate’s line about, “The only thing more ruthless than a criminal is a politician trying to cover his own ass.”

There are female politicians, and some of them are just as corrupt as certain male ones. It’d be so easy to replace ‘his’ with ‘their’.

Moving on, Moreau wants to know who Nate even is.

Then, he points a gun at Nate, and having arrived, Eliot runs. “You’ve got one shot, Moreau!”

Shooting the Italian, Moreau gets on the plane, and Nate stops Eliot from following.

Later, Eliot asks Nate not to tell the others about the warehouse.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” is the cliché but still sweet response.

Team Leverage goes to the ambulance the Italian is about to be loaded into, and thanking Nate, she promises he’s free now.

They walk away, and Nate declares they’re going to San Lorenzo, the fictional country Moreau has fled to.

Fin.


End file.
